Our Perfect Wild

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As teachers in Barrow and Wainwright in the early 1960s, Ray and Barbara lived and embraced the lifestyle of their Inupiat Eskimo and later Koyukon friends and neighbors. They saw how closely their lifestyles were intertwined with the land--and how critical wilderness was to preserving the ancient wisdom of that way of life. A 1, 200 mile dog team trip from Hughes to Barrow in 1974 helped them decide on a career move that would change their lives. Casting their lot with the National Park Service, the Banes worked to preserve wilderness in a state long known for its appetite to develop natural resources. So when President Carter designated 56 million acres of Alaska as National Monuments, Carter was burned in effigy in Fairbanks--and Ray's airplane was vandalized, a potentially lethal act. Undaunted, the Banes continued to work tirelessly to bring people the truth behind the anti-government rhetoric. Later they challenged the National Park Service itself as they sought to hold the NPS accountable to the ideals of the Organic Act of 1916. The Banes are founding members of the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, an advocacy group that is still active today. Our Perfect Wild: Ray and Barbara Bane's Journeys and the Fate of the North details the extraordinary lives of a couple who embodied conservation efforts in Alaska during the volatile days when lands were being set aside as national parks, preserves, and wilderness areas. Theirs is a tale of adventure and hardship, but, even more, theirs is a love story between a couple and the land--and its people on the cusp of irrevocable cultural change.